Japan is cheap and convenient, but I would have preferred a university in China…The truth of a Chinese international student who receives 140,000 yen per month.By the way, the average monthly allowance for Japanese people is 70,000 yen | PRESIDENT Online

What kind of life are the “Chinese international students,” the largest group by country, currently living? Non-fiction writer Itaru Nishitani says, “People who couldn’t get into prestigious schools in China such as Peking University and Tsinghua University choose Japan as a “cheap and convenient country” to study abroad. Struggling students who are wealthy and spend their time working part-time jobs are now in the minority.”

There is “no particular reason” for choosing Japan.

In the past, Chinese international students had the image of struggling students, but that is now a thing of the past. What kind of people are today’s Chinese international students who come from the world’s second-highest GDP superpower?

We spoke to Liu Dexin (19 years old, pseudonym), who came to Japan from Zhejiang Province in April 2023 and attends a Japanese language school in the Ikebukuro area of ​​Tokyo. He says that he is now aiming to enter a Japanese university.

“I plan to take the EJU in June and the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in July, and then enroll in April next year.”

The EJU is an exam for international students that began in 2002, and evaluates the basic academic ability required for admission to Japanese universities and vocational schools. The Japanese Language Proficiency Test measures Japanese language proficiency in five levels from N5 to N1, and the highest level, N1, requires approximately 900 hours of study time.

What made you choose Japan as your study abroad destination?

“Originally, my parents encouraged me to go abroad.I would have liked to go anywhere overseas, but I decided to go abroad because I was familiar with Japanese manga and anime, and because it was close to Japan.” I chose to study abroad. Also, my older sister studied abroad at a Japanese university, so that had a big influence on me.”

About 10 years ago, there were a lot of Chinese people aiming to study in Japan who were strongly influenced by specific manga works such as “Naruto” and “Fullmetal Alchemist.” However, rather than coming to Japan because of strong feelings, it seems that they are choosing Japan as an “affordable study abroad destination” with better cost performance and geographical proximity compared to Europe and America. Maybe the positive motivation is running out.

China’s university entrance exam population is 20 times that of Japan’s

“I chose Japanese instead of English for foreign language classes in high school.The hurdles for entering a university in Japan are much lower than taking the university entrance exam in China.Compared to the pressure of Gaokao, It’s easy to get into university.” (Mr. Liu)

The official name of China’s university entrance examination system, “Gaokao”, is “National Standardized Examination for Ordinary High School Entrance Examinations”, and if you guess the Japanese translation, it would be “National Standardized Examination for Recruiting New University Students”. It’s a bit confusing, but “High School” in Chinese means “University” in Japan. In other words, it is equivalent to the “university entrance common test” in Japan, but what is interesting is that in China, as a general rule, universities are decided by a one-shot test using only the Gaokao (common test). Chinese universities, like those in Europe and the United States, enroll students in September, so exams are held from June 7th to 8th every year.

The number of people taking the exam in China is extremely large, approximately 13 million compared to Japan’s approximately 600,000. The total population is 10 times larger, but the number of test takers is 20 times larger. Competition is extremely tough, and it seems that it is “better value for money” to enter a Japanese university as an international student than to try to get into a super prestigious school such as Peking University or Tsinghua University.

“My dream is to go to the University of Tokyo. It may be difficult, but I’m going to give it a try. I want to study about money, so I’m planning to study business administration. China’s ‘nature’ is terrible.”

“Inner volume” is a Chinese buzzword that began to be used around 2020, and refers to unproductive internal competition and the social stress that accompanies it.